According to a recent announcement by the Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board, schools in the area will receive funding to the amount of close to three million dollars for new computers.
The board decided to invest in upgrading the electronic equipment in the schools and bought more than seven thousand new computers. This was a necessary investment, as in 2016, voters approved a capital override of the education budget dedicated to electronic devices.
Barbara Reinert, an academic coach for the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUDC), explained that students nowadays need access to computers to perform the tasks set by their teachers. According to her, students have to go through vast amounts of data, and they need the proper equipment to do that. This equipment includes up to date computers, as most of the information comes from online publications.
Scottsdale bets on technology
While many decision-makers in the educational field believe that student to teacher ratio is more important, SUDC has prioritized to reach a one-to-one ratio between students to computer devices.
According to the district’s chief system officer, Debi Spaulding, achieving this ratio is one of the main priorities when it comes to education. Ms. Spaulding also added that access to technology improves students’ engagement rates, which means that they are learning better.
The new computers will be available for students between third and twelveth grade, and teachers will have more opportunities to include interactive classes involving online research. Over the next five years, the district will work on replacing all older computers, some of which have been in use for more than eight years.
